The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has recognized the Robert Gill family and the Jackson Hole Hereford Ranch as their 2019 Landowner of the Year for the Jackson Region. The Jackson Hole Hereford Ranch was created in the late 1920’s by Robert Bruce Porter and remains a family cattle operation in the valley to this day.
The Jackson Hole Hereford Ranch has generously allowed the Game and Fish Department to operate an elk feed ground on their private property through the winter months for the last half century. Some 800 elk gather at the Dog Creek Ranch property, owned by the ranch, each winter. The space provided allows the Department to spread animals out to practice low-density feeding that reduces the risk of disease transmission amongst the animals. The operation of the feed ground also allows Game and Fish to greatly reduce the number of wildlife-vehicle collisions on a notoriously-dangerous stretch of Highway 89 there in the Snake River Canyon.
Monitoring the status of Snake River Cutthroat Trout on private land is often difficult. The Jackson Hole Hereford Ranch has long-provided the Department valuable access to critically important cutthroat spawning spring creeks. Over the years, the ranch has also conducted several habitat improvement projects in the spring creeks, which ultimately recruits more cutthroats to the Snake River.
A fish ladder installed on the Gill property to faciltate movement of trout.
The Jackson Hole Hereford Ranch has also been instrumental in assisting the Game and Fish in managing an ever-growing private land elk herd along the Snake River south of Jackson. With traditional private ranchlands becoming mixed with urban development, it is increasingly difficult for hunters to find safe places to hunt elk. The ranch understands the challenges of managing elk here and help when needed; assisting department personnel with elk hazing/moving operations, allowing hunting opportunity to the public where applicable and working to minimize elk damage and comingling with cattle throughout the year.
In recent years, the ranch has hosted a Wounded Warriors hunt, providing the opportunity for a veteran injured in service to come out to the ranch on an all-expenses paid elk hunt. Past recipients of this program have been overwhelmed by the kindness and generosity shown by the Gill family and employees of the ranch. The ranch has also served as a great option for elderly and youth hunters to harvest an elk.
A successful hunter and his family with an elk taken on the Hereford Ranch through the "Wounded Warriors" program.
"Our long-standing partnership with the Jackson Hole Hereford Ranch makes it our privilege to recognize the Robert Gill family, along with ranch managers Steve Hardeman and Alex Renova, as our 2019 Landowner of the Year," said Jackson Region Wildlife Supervisor, Brad Hovinga.
Robert Gill and two of their children, Jessica (Left) and Nikki.